Video: Micro-Submarine Gets First Look at Subglacial Lake Floor

When researcher Alberto Behar from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., joined an international Antarctic expedition last month on a trek to investigate Subglacial Lake Whillans, he brought with him a unique instrument designed and funded by NASA to help the researchers study one of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth.

Called the Micro-Submersible Lake Exploration Device, the instrument was a small robotic sub about the size and shape of a baseball bat.

The imagery and other data from the mini-sub were used to survey the lake floor and help the WISSARD team verify that the rest of their instruments could be safely deployed into the lake.

See more stories and multimedia from Lake Whillans in this special report.